Go See THE HEART OF THE GAME.

Okay, I need to tell you about this movie.

And then you need to go get it and watch it.

I don't care who you are.
I don't care what you feel about sports.
I don't care how you feel about documentaries.

If you are a human being and you are alive and aware and sensitive to the lives of the people around you, you need to see this movie.

I discovered this documentary film, two or three months ago, on a weekday afternoon, home sick from work. I laid in bed, flipping around, looking for something to watch, when I found this movie. I don't know why I stopped and watched any of it. I don't know jack about basketball. Especially ladies, high school basketball. But I did stop on it and I watched the whole thing, from that point on.

The ending of this movie is one of the most tense, heart-wrenching endings I've ever seen in my life. Reality wrote the best sports movie I've ever seen. That emotional release that all sports movies want you to feel at the climactic game? Yeah, well, this climactic game actually happened and it delivers on the promise that those other, fictional movies only promise.

Here's a brief plot description of the film from IMDB.

THE HEART OF THE GAME captures the passion and energy of a Seattle high school girls' basketball team, the eccentricity of their unorthodox coach, and the incredible true story of one player's fight to play the game she loves.

And really, that's all you should know, going into this movie. Everything else, the highs and the lows, you need to discover on your own.

Roger Ebert gave the movie 3 1/2 stars and said this about the film.

"The Heart of the Game" has the potential, like "Hoop Dreams," to win a large audience.

I would caution you away from his review, though, as he spoils the ending of the film in the first paragraph and it's really better if you don't know what's going to happen. No link here. If you really want to look it up, Google it yourself.

This film worked for me in a big way. The only other sports movie that affected me as much as this one did, was the Ali vs Frazier documentary, "When we were kings". This movie deserves an honored place on my home movie shelf, next to that one.

So, now you've heard about it.
You've been enticed, but not spoiled.
I'm closing out this review with the trailer for the film and it will show you the girls and that it's about girls basketball and the coach seems a little odd, but I'm telling you that there's much more to the story than that. But you'll have to seek it out on your own to see what I mean.

Which you should do.

As soon as you can.

Cheers,
Mr.B